Abstract
The prohibition of aquaculture is an important policy instrument for water quality protection. However, there are lack of observations on the complex interactions between stakeholders in the limiting or closing of fisheries and the internal cooperative mechanism that balances the restoration of water bodies and the livelihoods of fishermen. Using evolutionary game theory and modeling, this article analyzes the complex mutual feedback strategy between local government and the affected fishermen in regard to water body restoration and livelihood security under fishing prohibition. The results show that (a) the performance evaluation mechanism of environmental protection, including rewards and punishments, can provide direct political traction and indirect material guarantees for local governments to perform their duties and allow water body restoration and the transition of fishermen to alternative livelihoods. (b) Whether the local government actively promotes aquaculture closures is restricted by the improvement in the aquatic environment, the aquaculture development under the existing livelihood, and the industrial economic benefits of the new livelihood. And the capacity of them contribute to the overall development of the local government. The development of the net income of both parties in the negotiation will shape the direction of a series of public policies that focus on aquaculture closures.
Highlights
Water bodies represent both an objective natural comprehensive landscape and a strategic resource of economic and social value that supports national security and the well-being of people (H. Wang, 2016)
The internal economic regulation function of the evaluation mechanism is an exogenous variable that local governments rely on in the process of aquaculture closure governance
2013) and indirectly serves as an initial material source of security for the affected fishermen to transition to an eco-friendly livelihood. (b) To balance water body restoration and livelihood security under the aquaculture closures, we should consider the improvement of the aquatic environment and the path of aquaculture development based on the fishermen’s existing livelihood and their comprehensive contribution to the regional economy and society; policymakers should accurately measure the effect of disrupting local financial revenue
Summary
Water bodies represent both an objective natural comprehensive landscape and a strategic resource of economic and social value that supports national security and the well-being of people (H. Wang, 2016). The water body encompasses the natural or artificial river, lake, reservoir, sea, swamp, glacier, snow, groundwater, and atmospheric water and includes the dissolved matter, suspended matter, sediment, and aquatic organisms in the water Together, these elements constitute the spatial basis and material conditions for the benign interaction between and the succession of the ecological environment and the social economy. The Water Pollution Prevention and Control Plan (2015) and The State’s Opinions on the Protection of Key River Basins (e.g., in 2019, general secretary Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the Symposium on Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development in the Yellow River Basin) have illustrated that aquatic environmental protection and water pollution prevention and control rise to the level of necessity It has placed these concepts in an elevated position that is related to the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Whether the national water culture can be continuously strengthened and the pollution sources can be gradually eliminated is related to the modernization and capacity of the environmental management system
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